Art, Beauty and Other Mysteries

Friday

Exciting news to share. Rodney won "Photographer of the Year" in Manitoba earlier this month. This title is given to the professional photographer with the strongest showing of images in the annual print competition of PPOC-MB.

After two years of creating and waiting, Rodney will be unveiling his latest collection of art, entitled "Au Naturel" at a one-night-only group show on November 21, from 5 - 10 p.m. at the Pulse Lounge on 374 River Avenue (across the street and east from Gas Station Theatre). The collection features beautiful nudes in diverse natural settings, including the first image in the photos above.

Monday

How is your professional image? Is the photo you have floating around on business cards and on the internet saying what you want it to say? Is it current?

If you are on the arts scene, are you an actor looking to get onto some movie sets this summer? Are you a musician who hasn't taken your hopes and dreams seriously enough?

We want to help you with your headshot needs.

If you're familiar with us, you know that Rodney is knowledgeable, easy to work with, and experienced. He's been in the industry for 14 years, right here in Winnipeg. Rodney has published books, he teaches at Red River College, and he's on the national board for the Professional Photographers of Canada. He's worked with all sorts of people from city councillors and CEO's to musicians, dancers, and actors to women entrepreneurs. Rodney is always honing his craft.

You can trust that Rodney will help you get the best look for you. We guarantee your satisfaction.

Thursday

I've been thinking about what we do and how we're different from others. Although we serve a similar client base and fill a similar need, we are not boudoir photographers. It's true we try to help women feel beautiful and build their self-esteem and boudoir photography can do that. What is different is our focus. "Boudoir" refers to "bedroom", so there's typically a focus on lingerie, bringing out the "sexy" personna of a woman, and usually involves a stylist offering hair and make-up services to help create that look. The photographer's poses, camera angle, and focus are also geared to create that look. Not knocking boudoir, but it's not really what we do.

At Eve Studios, our focus is to capture the natural beauty of a woman: her unique body and personality. It's a holistic approach. We encourage our clients to do their own hair and make-up or go to their own stylist...someone they feel comfortable with already. It's our job to put our clients at ease, use the best lighting, and put the finishing touches on the images. In the process, our aim is to focus on the whole person. Depending on the end goal and the comfort level of our clients, the session may include some art nude portraits. There is usually quite a variety.

So often, we have bad experiences in front of the camera and we have those images in our mind. Or we remember how we look when we're frowning at our {wrinkles, dark circles, teeth, complexion, cellulite, sags etc.} in the mirror and never get to see ourselves at our best. That's why we created Eve Studios. Women need to see their own beauty and be more comfortable in their own skin. Our Eve sessions are one way of growing in that.

If you feel drawn to the idea of seeing your beauty in a new way, please give Rodney a call at 221-8413. It would probably easier to put it off, but follow your intuition. You could spend $100 on shoes/clothes/accessories every month for a year, or you could create an album or wall portrait that reminds you how beautiful you are every day for a year (and even longer). The choice is up to you!

Monday

We are pleased and excited to announce that we can offer a new location for May and June. As you may know, we sold our studio building last November and work has not yet begun on our new studio. Can you guess where we'll be shooting? Here's a clue...

Wednesday

We've just corrected a phone problem we've unknowingly had over the past 2-3 weeks. If anyone with Shaw phone service has called our studio number, you likely went immediately to voicemail and haven't heard back from us. We apologize for the inconvenience. Everything has been fixed and your call will now actually get to us. So please call back!

It's a beautiful time of year. We hope you are taking time to savor all the richness and wonder of Christmas. It's so easy to let to-do lists and busyness steal the joy of Christmas.

I found this video on youtube today. It tells the story of Christmas from Mary's perspective in thoughtful song combined with vivid scenes from the movie "The Nativity Story". It's called, "Breath of Heaven".

Saturday

We have finally sold our studio building, effective November 14th, 2012. Rodney will continue to take clients, on-location or at an alternate studio location throughout the winter, one or two per month only. Our phone number will remain the same: 204-221-8413.

We are very excited that the new owners will be opening a pharmacy and medical clinic--a great addition for Selkirk Avenue!

In spring, we will start work on a new studio which will be located above our garage. Drive-in parking and lots of natural light...it's going to be great!

Have a wonderful winter. If you are doing portraits for Christmas, please book as soon as possible to ensure timely delivery. A gift for your partner is always fun, because it's one of few gifts that is just as much for you as it is for him! If you're thinking of sending out family photos for Christmas, start planning "your look": do you want a winter wonderland, a roaring fireplace, or a special family hang-out as the background? The process from start to finish takes a few weeks, so keep that in mind and don't wait until the last minute.

Wednesday

I have a number of thoughts rumbling about in my head--at least milling about there--and I felt inspired to share them with you. The thoughts are coming from my experiences and conversations today.

First, let me tell you a little about me. I am an introvert by nature and a homebody. I don't have a great need to go out and do things or be with people. It's not what feeds my energy. However, I'm often pleasantly surprised when I do go out, that I get kinda jazzed. Interesting people stimulate my thought processes and inspire me. Of course, I wonder why I don't get out more often.

Today, I had fun at a BNI networking breakfast. I felt excited to meet people and help them meet other people. I met someone who was taken by our tagline, "Uncovering the Beauty Within". It was the first time she felt a photographer actually got what it meant to capture her. A real estate agent, she's had many headshots in life, and some she filed under "ugly promo shots"--images that did not make her feel beautiful. We talked about the importance Rodney places on getting to know people in order to bring out the best in them, and how lighting and re-touching shape the end product, either detracting from or enhancing a person's true essence and beauty.

Then, I went to a Mom's group at my church. We started a video series on the book of Esther (from the Bible). The subtitle is, "it's tough being a woman". Although I've written about the challenges of being a woman these days, I wasn't sure if I'm into affirming to myself that it's tough being a woman. At the same time, I am curious about what the focus of the study will be. The next video is about the challenge of being a woman in another woman's shadow.

After getting out of my house today, those are some of my thoughts on being a woman. I will be including some of women's answers to the question: "What are your top three reasons that it's tough being a woman?" on our facebook page in upcoming days at www.facebook.com/EveStudiosWpg.

Friday

We had a client this past year who loved old movies and old Hollywood glamour. Recently, we asked her if we could use some of her images for a new brochure we're working on. She happily agreed. When we asked if she would also consider writing about her experience, this is what she wrote.

Hello Rodney,

The photo shoot was a truly incredible experience for me. I had an idea of what photos I wanted you to capture based on poses when we planned the themed shoot, but you ended up not just capturing the poses, but a real window into my soul as well. It was more than I could have ever hoped for and it was a truly amazing experience that I wish all women could experience. The shoot itself was very liberating and became a defining moment for this particular stage in my life.

How amazing is it for a woman to let go of her inhibitions and self-criticisms completely for even one day and do something out of the realm of the normal everyday life? To partake in something just for her and to not care what anyone else thinks or says about it. We don’t get many chances in life to do such things, especially when we have careers, families and social lives. You, Rodney, give women the opportunity to do that in your photo shoots, and I can say from my own experience at Eve Studios that you made me very happy to be who I am, inside and out.

Thank you and I wish you and Sonya the very best in your future endeavors!

This whole experience of collecting stories has been so encouraging for us. I hope it is an encouragement to you as well. It's so easy for us as women to lose ourselves in the everyday bustle of life, or to get stuck in judgment of ourselves. Our goal is to help women take time to see themselves in a new light, finding their beauty, and remembering their value.

One thing we're hoping to do in our new brochure is to include a section with lots of faces, so that our readers don't just see one or two featured women and think to themselves, "I'm not like them...I couldn't do this". Isn't that easy to do? I hope to include the photos here as well.